Kerry to attend Syria talks on May 22, visit Mideast, Africa

May 17, 2013|Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend talks on Syria in Amman on Wednesday, the State Department said, as major powers try to bring the Syrian government and opposition to peace talks in June.

Kerry's visit is part of a one-week trip that begins in Oman on Tuesday and includes talks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Thursday and Friday as well as an African Union summit in Addis Ababa over the weekend.

He then is scheduled to return to Jordan on Sunday to attend the World Economic Forum.

Trying to find a diplomatic solution to end Syria's more than two-year-old civil war will be near the top of his agenda. The United States and Russia on May 7 said they would try to bring both sides to the conflict to conference - possibly in Geneva in June - to select a transitional government.

However, it is still unclear whether the government and the opposition will attend such a meeting, let alone how they will bridge the opposition's demand that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad leave power.

Kerry is also trying to find a way to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which broke down in 2010 in a dispute over Israel's construction of Jewish settlements on West Bank land that the Palestinians want for a state.